I will say a few words about the word “reign” as Paul uses the term (5:17) and as Jim discusses it, then I will make a few other miscellaneous comments about this week’s reading. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s been a lot of discussion about virtue recently (e.g., here). And for good reason.

If you haven’t been following, here’s the skinny. In a letter to his son (Moroni), Mormon describes horrible acts being committed against the daughters of the Lamanites (Moroni 9:9). Recent events, esp. pertaining to Elizabeth Smart, bring to light the sense in which Mormon’s words are apt to perpetuate wrongheaded attitudes about chastity, rape, and “that which [is] most dear and precious” regarding (young) women.

Because this issue pertains to scripture, and because scripture is the explicit focus of this blog, and because this is such an important and serious issue, I feel compelled to say something. Actually, I want to say two things—the first without elaboration, the second with. (I’ve also included a longish footnote with some of my own thoughts about how we might think about Mormon 9:9 itself.) Read the rest of this entry »

[Thanks to Alan Goff for sending in the post below.]

Jim aptly singles out the two most important issues for discussion from these two verses: (1) what Adam’s fall means and (2) the typological relationship between Adam and Jesus. In the two translations themselves (p. 238) note that the KJV translates the Greek typos as “figure” while in Jim’s alternate translation Jim has “type.” This is handy to have the two versions for comparison Read the rest of this entry »

Jim’s commentary on Romans 1 has made clear again and again that we’d be dealing with the life of holiness in Romans 5-8. For that reason, I’m now reading with a careful eye to what it means to live in a holy way. I’ll pick up a few scattered remarks in the commentary on 5:3-11 that are instructive in a variety of ways, but I think it’d be best if I begin with and spend the bulk of my own time here on one passage in particular—the one from which I learned the most about what it might mean to speak of the life of holiness. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the discussion of the phrase “his life” from verse 10, found on pages 234-235. I’ll begin there, and then I’ll make a few comments on other points in this week’s reading. Read the rest of this entry »

[Thanks to Alan Goff for the post below. Note: I've updated the intro page for this series with links to all the posts so far. Also, for the record, Alan sent this to me last Friday—tax day yesterday, some webpage editing glitches, and other weekend craziness are my (lame) excuses for not getting this posted sooner....]

I have to admit that doing commentary on a commentary is a strange literary genre that I have never taken up before. It makes me feel rabbinic. Read the rest of this entry »

My comments so far in the course of this reading project have aimed at isolating passages in which Jim’s overarching intentions with the letter to the Romans are embodied. In a certain way, this is to cut against the grain of Jim’s text: although he does, I think, have certain overarching intentions, his approach to the text is purposefully in excess of any overarching intention—too comprehensive to be limited to a theme, too willing to go wherever Paul wanders to dwell for long on central themes, too methodologically focused to worry about outlining an argument. Perhaps I’ve been willing—and will continue to be willing—to work against some of Jim’s purposes because I was converted long, long ago to the approach he’s modeling in the book; hoping to learn more from Jim, I consequently find myself focusing on the subtly emergent theme that gives the whole book its title. Whatever my motivations, I’ll continue in that mold in my discussion here of Jim’s analysis of Romans 1:18-23. How do these pages contribute to Jim’s investigation of the life of holiness? Read the rest of this entry »

Having covered the first seven verses in about 70 pages, Jim covers the next 7 verses in a mere 20 pages (give or take). This change in speed is a bit jolting, and I think it’s a nice effect: having grown accustomed to a very ponderous and leisurely pace, really savoring the flavors of the first 7 verses, it feels like we’re approach these next 7 verses fast-food style. I’m not sure if Jim planned this effect, but I’m guessing he’ll be pleased with it, especially the way it effects a yearning for slow and careful reading. Read the rest of this entry »